Tag: banks

If you are a real estate investor, your business has one significant difference compared to other types of businesses. Unfortunately, many real estate investors don’t realize this and they market their real estate investing business just like any other business. But it’s a HUGE mistake that could undermine your success.

In the video below, find out if you are making this critical real estate investor marketing mistake (and what you can do about it).

If you can overlook the retina-burning red of their website, and if you can get past their awkward stock symbol (STD), you’ll be surprised to discover Global Santander as an impressive organization and the banking industry’s best kept secret.

Santander is the largest bank in the world in terms of bank branches (they have 14,000) and they are the third largest bank in the world in terms of assets (they have $1.5 trillion). They’ve been around since 1857. They seem to be well defined in terms of what they do and how they communicate it. Their mix of geographic markets and demographic markets minimizes their risk.

So, why haven’t most people heard of them? Well, for one, their focus has not been on US and Canada: They have branches in Europe and Latin America. Latin America has money but doesn’t make economic headlines. (Well, that’s not entirely true: Brazil is the “B” in the BRIC acronym). I’d also suggest that companies that do make headlines lately are ones that are having a rough time in this economy, while a company like Santander has been around for 150 years and just continues to plug away at what it does well.

There’s some interesting potential here for them to grow. In a time when banks are imploding and financial confidence is weakened, a strong company like Santander can come in and make strategic acquisitions. It’s a cheap way to gain fast marketshare. And they already have a North American presence: They’re in Mexico and they have some regional presence in the US with an American bank (Sovereign Bank) and a financial company (formerly Drive Finance now Santander Consumer).

Consumer concerns over “foreign ownership” are a potential threat but they can be addressed with regional, co-branded marketing (on a similar but larger scale to what they are doing at Sovereign Bank and Santander Consumer). Or, they can accomplish it in the same way that the Toyotas and Hondas and Nissans have done it (quite successfully) with heavy investment in communicating that they do business locally.

If I were to recommend how they might gain further entry into the North American market, this would be my recommendation:

Start marketing right now. Before you do anything else, flood the market with a bunch of marketing on the size and stability and competitive advantage of Santander.

Then, in the US, buy banks. They’re cheap. Pick up some regional banks. Put together a co-branded package to *slowly* switch XYZ bank to XYZ bank by Santander. Make “by Santander” or “backed by Santander” a key part of your co-branding. In Canada, use the bankless PC Financial model (which places kiosks in Loblaws grocery stores). There are other places people shop. (Does Walmart have a bank? I can’t remember. The one near my house doesn’t).

Start making in-roads into other countries. (They are in Russia, the “R” in BRIC). I think they could make some ground in India, the Philippines, and they might even have the chops to fill the financial services vacuum in Africa.

ING Direct is another good example of a foreign company doing a good job entering the US & Canadian market. If Santander is looking to make headway into the US/Canadian market, now is the time to do it. They have money, they have sound policies, they have a strong brand, and have little exposure to the mortgage poison that has put many banks on shaky ground.

In terms of the Business Diamond Framework™, all four Function Diamonds are really strong: Their Leadership Diamond has a clear focus and game plan; their Value-Add Diamond has won the trust (and the $1.5 trillion in assets) of Europeans and Latin Americans; their To-Market Diamond articulates clear benefits to their current market; their Support Diamond has made helped them to grow consistently over 150 years. Now, in my opinion, it’s time for them to take it to the next level and become a truly global organization.

I’ve grown to hate in-branch banking. I’m all about online or ATM transactions and I’ve been with the same bank for over a decade and nearly everything but my mortgage is at this one bank. And it’s a good bank, I’m very very happy with them. I pay nothing in fees, I never have to go into a branch, they give me lots of bonus stuff. I’m a happy customer.

Well, I just got off the phone with another bank — the one who holds my mortgage. It was a sales call and they were trying to get me to switch to them. But it was possibly the worst pitch I have ever heard. They asked me what I liked about my current bank. I said “no fees, and not having to go into the branch”. So they told me: “If you switch to us and do fewer than 15 transactions in a month, you’ll ONLY pay $4/month in fees and you won’t have to come into the branch either… except to meet us and get set up with your account. Oh, and you’ll need to open another type of account with us; like an investment account.”

There was a moment of silence while I waited to hear more. “Surely there’s GOT to be more!” (a set of steak knives, even?). But I never heard it. That was their pitch. To sell me on switching to them, they’re offering to take only $4/month in fees and a couple hours of my time.

Then, they tried to move me along in the sales process by saying: “Is the King St. and Wilson St. location still the closest one for you?”

Now I’m shocked. That location was the closest to me 16 years ago when I lived in ANOTHER city 1,413 miles away (I just checked on Google). These people have my current mortgage and, apparently an address for me that is over a decade and a half old.

So, when I corrected him, he was able to find a closer branch and asked me if a morning appointment or afternoon appointment would work better.

Uh, no. Neither. I got off the phone before he wasted any more of my time.

LISTEN UP, BANKS:

Let me break this down for you in the simplest terms:

When people buy things, they buy because they get something out of it.

It is called a “benefit”. (“BEN-e-fit”)

People like benefits and it motivates them. (“MO-tiv-ates”)

When you try to convince someone of something, you need to offer them a benefit.

But there’s two important factors:

The benefits you offer need to be greater than the current benefits they receive.

And, the “cost” of getting those new benefits need to be less than the “cost” of inaction.

Unfortunately, the bank that called me just now got it backwards.

Aaron Hoos is a writer, strategist, and investor who builds and optimizes profitable sales funnels.